Jessie Burton Quotes

What are we all chasing? Nella wonders. To live, of course. To be unbound from the invisible ropes that Johannes spoke of in his study. Or to be happy in them, at least.

~ Jessie Burton

A piece of art only succeeds when it's creator...possesses the belief that brings it into being

~ Jessie Burton

Like most artists, everything I produced was connected to who I was - and so I suffered according to how my work was received. The idea that anyone might be able to detach their personal value from their public output was revolutionary.

~ Jessie Burton

I’m doing the absolute opposite of giving myself away. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be completely visible. If the painting sells, I’ll be in Paris, hanging on a wall. If anything, I’m being selfish. It’s perfect; all the freedom of creation, with none of the fuss.

~ Jessie Burton

You are a stone, thrown upon a lake. But the ripples you create will never make you still.

~ Jessie Burton

This city is like no other city in the world. It is brilliant but it is bloated, and I've never called it home

~ Jessie Burton

The turnip cannot thrive in the tulips patch of soil.

~ Jessie Burton

The rules of this house are written in water. I must either sink or swim.

~ Jessie Burton

Because, Petronella - it's something in his soul. It's something in his soul and you can't get it out.

~ Jessie Burton

All we can do if we're lucky is stich up the mistakes other people make.

~ Jessie Burton

That may be. But to decide that I was never going to live as a proper woman was not your choice to make.' 'What do you mean a proper woman?' 'A proper woman marries - she has children -' 'Then what does that make me? Am I not a proper woman? Last time I looked I certainly was.

~ Jessie Burton

Love your children, for they are the seeds that will make this city bloom.

~ Jessie Burton

Words are water in this city. One drop of rumour could drown us.

~ Jessie Burton

Take care, take care. This city thrives! It's money gives you wings to soar. But it is a yoke on your shoulders and you would do well to take note of the bruise around your neck.

~ Jessie Burton

Believe it or don't believe it, Madame. But my feet are tired too. Bloody tired. Like a dead man's.

~ Jessie Burton

We're nothing more than prisoners to your desire.

~ Jessie Burton

The ink was secret nectar, for Marin isn't married.

~ Jessie Burton

There are horizons through the brickwork, you wait and see.

~ Jessie Burton

What was once, is no longer.

~ Jessie Burton

The night darkens, the stars unfriendly, the cold a knife upon her neck - but Nella waits, until she can no longer difference between Johannes and the darkness that carries him away.

~ Jessie Burton

Neighbours watching neighbours, twisting ropes to bind us all.

~ Jessie Burton

From little seeds great flowers grow.

~ Jessie Burton

I feel younger than eighteen but burdened as a eighty-year-old.

~ Jessie Burton

I felt nothing change in the room, except the shock of my voice alone and the peculiar euphoria one feels in the wake of applause, feeling at once cheapened and triumphant.

~ Jessie Burton

But words are water in Amsterdam, they flood your ears and set the rot, and the church's east corner is crowded.

~ Jessie Burton

A Depressive?' 'Smiles in ballrooms, weeps in bedrooms. Ill in her head.' Olive tapped her temple. 'And here.' She touched her heart.

~ Jessie Burton

Nothing here is more fabulous than the truth

~ Jessie Burton

Marin believes love is better in the chase than caught,’ she says. He raises his eyebrows. ‘That does not surprise me. It is not better. But it is easier. One’s imagination is always more generous. And yet, the chase always tires you out in the end.

~ Jessie Burton

In suffering we find our truest selves.

~ Jessie Burton

A lifetime isn't enough to know how a person will behave.

~ Jessie Burton

1887A lifetime isn't enough to know how a person will behave.

~ Jessie Burton

She had never had a friend like this, in her private room, combing her hair, listening to her, talking about silly nonsense and the uselessness of one's parents; how the future was perfect, because they hadn't lived it yet.

~ Jessie Burton

Growing older does not seem to make you more certain. It simply presents you with more reasons for doubt.

~ Jessie Burton

Writing is a leap of faith. But how wonderful that the person you're putting faith in is yourself.

~ Jessie Burton

Everything man sees he takes for a toy. 'Thus is he always, forever a boy.

~ Jessie Burton